Blurb:

This volume is devoted to the regions of Idumea and Edom and their inhabitants in the Persian period. As recent findings and research suggest, in the aftermath of the the elimination of Edom as a kingdom in the Neo-Babylonian period, Edomites continued to inhabit their traditional territory east of the Arabah Valley as well as the region west of the Arabah. The biblical texts contain memories informed by the Persian-period reality.

The eighteen essays collected in this volume highlight new developments in the study of Edom by researchers from the disciplines of archaeology, Near Eastern studies, epigraphy, cultural history, and Hebrew Bible studies. Collectively, they draw a broad-stroke, complex image of historical Edom in the previously understudied Persian period.